We had breakfast at our hotel and packed up. We had used 12GO to book a driver to take us from Kandy to Ella after our train tickets fell through. I had done a lot of reading about how beautiful the train ride was between the two cities, but it wasn’t in the cards this trip.

Our driver arrived on time – and was very friendly. He told us to let him know whenever we wanted to stop to take pictures – as the drive itself was very picturesque. We made pretty good time – despite stopping to take pictures of the fields and hills. We even saw a wild peacock!

(Why did the peacock cross the road? Because we were heading his way at a frightening speed!)

There had been some miscommunication about which hotel we were staying at. It turns out that there is a famous resort in Ella – called 98 Acres. We however are staying at 88th Ella. Even though we told him that we would be at 88th – he still attempted to take us to 98 Acres. I only wish we were staying there!

Our hotel is recently built – and there aren’t very many reviews online. But it is nice – clean – and a great location. Only downfall is sketchy WiFi – which is a total first world problem.

Once we got to the hotel we weren’t able to check in – so we dropped our bags and started heading to Village Cafe – Nine Arches Bridge. I had read online that this was one of the best locations to view the bridge and incoming trains.

That’s great and all… except it doesn’t exist! Our hotel staff couldn’t find it – they took us on their tuk tuk and asked a few other locals. No one had heard of it. But being the millennials that we are… we kept heading that way anyway.

We eventually called it quits and decided to head to a different cafe – Asanka. Due to the sketchy cell service – we were bound to be let down. Once we got there – it really was only a shack that the owner had turned into a viewing platform. However, he took pity on us and gave us two tiny bananas and we purchased a Coke. We were ravenous after the drive and hike.

We were about to turn back after taking a few pictures when we heard the tell tale whistle of an incoming train. Jackpot! Within a few minutes the train had pulled through the tunnel and we had a front row seat of it!

We made it back to our hotel – got checked in and went to eat at the Ceylon Tea Factory. This restaurant was built to look like an actual tea factory. The food was great – and our service was even better. Our waiter helped us plan out the rest of our time in Ella.

(Andy in his natural element).

We spent time wandering around the main strip before heading back to relax. We had heard about Cafe Chill from our driver – and it didn’t disappoint. It had a great ambiance, was reasonably priced, and had fun drinks.

Up Next:

• Ella day 2
  • Little Adam’s Peak
  • Ravana Falls
  • Massages
  • Uva Halpewatte Tea Factory Tour